Another 148 REMINGTON HBWC

[4barrel]

A friend gave me some of these to try. I loaded some with 3.2 of American Select seated flush. I normally use Bullseye but A.S. does good with A BNWC. I was benching at 25 yards with my 19-3 and had a spotter. The first 9 shots did good. On shot 10 the bullet went a little low and the hole on the far right appeared at the same time. I pulled my targets and went home. A few days later I was wondering what happened. I started looking at the targets and found a fragment stuck in another target. As I was cleaning my brass one felt heavier. I looked inside and though it was dirt. What happened was the pressure sent the front of the HBWC to the target in pieces and left the outside stuck in the case. I am guessing the pressure was on the high side for the Remington. I had loaded Star and 3D without a problem. Anyway I took a few photos to pass the time as it is raining. The small sliver of lead in the photo fits the hole on the right perfect and has the foam plate stuck to it.

 

[jimbo728]

That is really odd for sure. Im surprised when sizing and decapping there was no resistance felt. Looks like the hole through the sand was big enough to prevent a squib but not big enough to direct the pressure to the whole bullet. Seeing that is a new one on me.
Jim

 

[4barrel]

That is really odd for sure. Im surprised when sizing and decapping there was no resistance felt. Looks like the hole through the sand was big enough to prevent a squib but not big enough to direct the pressure to the whole bullet. Seeing that is a new one on me.
Jim

Jim -That is not sand-that is back part of the HBWC bullet. These Remington bullets measure .360. I always resize to .357 or .358 but shooting these out of a revolver I left them at .360. The cylinder is .357 so maybe it built more pressure. I am going to back off on the powder .2 and try again. I haven't found a load for Am. Select for a hbwc so I probably created this myself. A.S shows slower than Bullseye. Thanks

 

[sw dan]

hey 4barrel,
the remington 148 hbwc, is a very fine bullet. a little messy to handle, but shoot real well. 2.8 of bullseye is a sweet load.

 

[jimbo728]

4 Barrel.Must have misunderstood your original post. That happening like that is really strange but if the bullet was .003 oversized for the revolver it is still quite a phenomenon. Good luck figuring that one out.
Jim

 

[4barrel]

I found 4 more brass tonight that looks like the photo with the bottom of the bullet still in it. I don't know how old the bullets are but they feel dry. They are all a perfect cone looking down. There is no leading in the barrel and I don't think overload at this point. It is like supper glued to the brass. I haven't tried to remove any the bullets yet to see if hard to remove. I don't think it is a powder problem yet. The recoil feels like 2.8 of Bullseye. I resized 100 tonight to .358 in a Star luber lubing the first lube ring which is a a little larger. When these bullets come apart it is like cut smooth with a machine and all look the same.

 

[andy52]

In my 40 years of reloading I've never seen anything like that before.
Anything I say would just be speculation. The design of HBWC is for the skirt to expand to engage the rifling, I wonder if it's possible that the composition of the lead was so soft that the skirt expanded insider the case and basically welded itself to the inside?

 

[ArchAngelCD]

If those are HBWC they are known to blow the skirt off if pushed to hard.

 

[mikld]

I have never experienced this, but read/heard often that the skirts can be
"blown off" or separated from the main body of a soft HBWC if the load is a bit too high...

Interesting that the body of the bullet continued down range and stayed on the target...

 

[OKFC05]

Well, I have seen that, been there, done that with those bullets, and the answer is simple: too much pressure for a Rem HBWC.
The excess pressure locks the skirts and blows off the noses.
Rem HBWC are best with Bullseye or HP38, minimum charges.

Some medium slow pistol powders cannot be loaded light enough for Rem HBWC, e.g. Green Dot. I know first hand; I tried it!

 

[Nevada Ed]

That is VERY strange...................and weird !

Being a factory made bullet would lead me to believe the lead
makeup is correct for target speeds.

You might try loading a few loads in your next try, with the bullet
seated backwards, with the HB in the front, to see what happens.
This might give a green light to the bullet if it works out and it
clears the case, barrel and hits the target, in one section.

Hard to believe that 3.2grs of AS powder would produce a load that hits 850fps.
However that oversize dia. is a little disturbing......
resizing to .358 should not alter/damage the bullet to where it
comes apart, though.

Strange.

Stay safe.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Try 3.0gr to 3.2gr W231, you will be surprised how accurate that bullet can be.

 

[4barrel]

Thanks everyone. Bullseye and 231 are great. I am just trying to get this Remington 148 to work with American Select because it seems to be a little cleaner. I think I am almost there. That was my first try with Remington HBWC. Post 10 has me thinking if 2.9 of A.S. doesn't work I will give up that combo. Are all Remington HBWS .360? I have 1000 Star and 500 3D HBWC and they are .358. I had some Hornady and I think they were .358 also.

 

[Nevada Ed]

One problem in reloading, can be the wall thickness of the case
by different makers.
I have not had too much problems with 38/357 loads but it can be a MAJOR
problem when I am loading for my 9mm pistols.

Setting up your dies, is critical when using different bullet coatings and diamiters!!

Some need extra belling of the case and hope the sizing brings the load
to the correct spec's to work in your weapon.
Over the years, I have found a few items that just don't work out for me.

Some weapons just have special cylinders and chambers that have problems..............

Have fun and stay safe.